At
UN, Quiet
Meeting on
Syria and
Rights, Wheel
Spinning on
Mali and
Haiti?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 12 --
With little
fanfare,
Security
Council
ambassadors
filed into
Conference
Room 6 in the
UN's North
Lawn
building
Friday
morning. The
sign outside
referred only
to a closed
Arria formula
meeting; no
mention of
Syria. But
that was the
topic.
An
inquiry with
the Presidency
confirmed that
this Arria
formula
meeting
was called by
Portugal,
which told
Inner City
Press speakers
included
Assistant
Secretary
General Ivan
Simonovic and
two members of
the
Human Rights
Council panel
on Syria,
chairman Paulo
Pinheiro and
member
Karen AbuZayd
(Carla del
Ponte was
appointed to
fill out the
panel on
September 28
but apparently
is not here).
Inner
City Press
asked and was
told that
Pinheiro and
Abu-Zaid would
hold a
briefing for
the press on
Tuesday,
October 16.
Apparently
they'll be
in New York
over the
weekend until
then. Why not
speak publicly
on
Friday? This
is the UN.
This
too is the UN
- after months
of saying how
dire the
situation in
northern Mali
is, the
Security
Council is
slated to
adopt a French
draft
resolution
later on
Friday.
But this
resolution
still will not
authorize any
action in or
on Northern
Mali, but
rather ask for
a
plan in 30
days, or
perhaps not
even that
specifically.
Also
Friday
afternoon the
Security
Council is
slated to
extend the
mandate
of its Haiti
mission
MINUSTAH for
yet another
year. A
protest is
planned across
First Avenue,
under the
banner "UN out
of Haiti."
But no one
seems to hear.
In
the previous
evening's US
Vice
Presidential
debate,
neither Haiti
or
even Mali,
despite the Al
Qaeda issue,
were raised.
And so it
goes.
Watch this
site.
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